Saturday 15th March
Surrey League, Tandridge, Cat 2,3,4

This was my first race of the season so I was looking forward to it with a healthy mixture of enthusiasm and trepidation. I'd just finished assembling the new bike that morning and was keen to see how it felt on the road. I'd been training over the winter but hadn't raced since August last year so I knew I wouldn't have any speed in my legs. I think that watching the Paris-Nice race on television during the past week had deluded me into thinking that I could do OK in a race anyway.

My first mistake of the day was not leaving enough time to get to the race. I left home about 15 minutes later than I should have and then couldn't find the race headquarters due to getting incorrect information from the Surrey League web site. The web site said that the race headquarters was at "Crowhurst Village Hall" when in fact it turned out to be Tandridge Village Hall. I drove to Crowhurst and was unable to find the village hall much less the race headquarters. I did manage to find some race marshalls at a nearby intersection however and stopped to ask for directions. After about 5 minutes of following my interpretation of his directions I ended up back at the same intersection again. He repeated the directions in a little more detail and, after turning left where I'd previously turned right, still ended up back at that same intersection! By now, the time was 1:25 pm and with the race due to start at 1:30, rushing to get to the race start was a waste of time as the race sign-on usually closes at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time so I thought there was no way they'd let me start anyway. After another brief discussion with the race marshall, he showed me the location of the race start on his street directory. If he'd just told me it was in Tandridge from the start as it would have been much easier for me to find.

Anyway, I drove back to Tandridge expecting to pass the riders traveling in the opposite direction on the way there. I arrived, and got a parking spot right outside the hall, where I was greeted by my team mate, James. He hurriedly grabbed the bike from the back of the car while I ran inside the hall to do some grovelling to the race organisers to try to get a start in the race. Fortunately he was in a very good mood (and told me so!) and I quickly signed the start sheet while James pinned a number on my back.

We set off in the race and immediately I knew that putting a new bike together on the morning of the first race of the season was a very bad idea. The front brake shoes were rubbing on the rim, the computer magnet was hitting the sensor, the saddle was a little too low and tilted up at the front, and the handlebars were set too high! Just goes to show that you can't always set up a new bike using a tape measure. And on top of all that, I didn't have time to work out what clothing to wear and just rode out wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey with no gloves! By the time we'd ridden 20km I was feeling *#&¡£#$! cold to say the least.

The circuit consisted of 10 laps of 10km. It was relatively flat, just a few small inclines of no more than a few hundred metres that could be negotiated in the big chain-ring, but a steady easterly wind made the going tough at times. The pace was also very stop- start with attacks going from the 2nd lap. Not having raced since last August and therefore not expecting to do well, my only real aim of the race was to stay with the main bunch and just get some race miles in my legs. I managed to do this for the first half of the race but on about lap 4 a breakaway group formed and I was left sitting in the main bunch. A small chase group formed about 20km later and after a few unsuccessful attempts to get away from the group I was in, I finally managed to get way by myself and bridge the gap to the chase group. It wasn't long before we realised that we were never going to catch the leaders. By that time I'd used up all my energy by bridging the gap to the chase group then working in the group and with 20 km to go I could feel my legs starting to fail. I thought about the race tomorrow and decided to take it easy and just ride to the finish with the group. It was too late though, and with just over a lap to go my legs gave way completely and I was forced to ride (or grovel) to the finish line where one of the race organisers told me that the original lead group had split apart and there was no way our chase group could have caught the leaders anyway. I didn't hang around to watch the finish, just rode back to the car with very sore and tired legs to get some warm clothes and food.

After a quick discussion of the race, rather than stand around shivering, I went to my car, turned the heater up as far as it would go, and drove home to watch Paris-Nice on television to see how it should be done.

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Created by Craig Porter, 2003.

Last Modified 20 March, 2003.